Re: Pat Summerall

[Shawn Mamros <mamros@MIT.EDU>]

>While I was busy falling down on the ice in the parking lot and breaking
>my hand, my wife watched the game at home.  She was quite disgusted
>with the commentators "totally devoid of emotion" comment "oh, the
>Patriots won."  This anti-Boston sentiment ranks right up there with
>Mel "This Week In Baseball" Allen whose comments were downright
>aggravating.  [...]

Since I was watching the game, I think I can safely offer my opinion
that I didn't find any "anti-Boston sentiment" on either Madden's or
Summerall's part.  They were neither anti- or pro-Patriots, IMO, and
being sportscasters for a national network, that's what you'd expect from
them.  If they were seen as being Patriots cheerleaders, then the fans
in St. Louis would have every right to complain.  Of course, I don't
doubt that there's some fan in St. Louis who might be complaining that
they were "anti-Rams", the way that you and your wife seem to think
that they were "anti-Patriots".

Yes, Madden expressed some surprise that the Patriots decided to "go
for it" at the very end, rather than "play it safe" and go to overtime.
Being a former coach himself, he's entitled to his opinion on strategies,
and he didn't say the Patriots were "dumb" for what they did, or anything
like that, from what I heard.  Plus, it's worth noting that Fox is the
NFC network, so neither Madden nor Summerall has had much (if any) chance
to see the Pats all season.  IMO, they can be forgiven for not knowing
how well - and how often - the Pats have pulled off near-impossible
comebacks all season long, not just the Oakland playoff game.

As for Mel Allen - is he a sportscaster, or a sports commentator?  Two
different positions, comparable to the difference between a newscaster
and a talk show host.  The former, if they do their job right, should
not be expressing a discernable opinion on any news (or sports) matter;
the latter often do, and are usually expected to do so.

-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu

P.S. I will confess that, while I'm quite glad the Pats won, they are
only my second-favorite NFL team, and I sorta-kinda wish they didn't
have to beat my first-favorite team (not the Rams) to do so.  But that's
okay - "you" have your first Lombardi trophy, and that's a good thing;
but "we" still have four of them. :-)